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Monday, October 31, 2011

I made Dia dos los Muertos masks from cardboard, masking tape, acrylic paint and black India ink. Both of these designs contain tears and sacred hearts - to show that we miss those that have gone before us.

The red roses were made by twisting tissue paper into a rope, then rolling the rope into a cinnamon bun shape. The roses were stitched together with thread to hold them together and onto the black skirt. I taped a thin wire to the back of the roses to keep them suspended inside the eyes.

1/4 inch black elastic was stitched into loops and taped to the back of the bones, so they could be easily slipped over a black, long sleeved shirt and leggings.When I ran out of elastic, I taped jute string to the bones instead.

To make the hair, I cut open a paper bag, folded it to make it kinky looking, and cut it into 1/2 inch strips, leaving a 2 inch margin along one edge to keep the whole thing together. The hair "fringe" was taped around the inside of the mask.

Later, as a final detail, I hung little kneecaps from a wire off the femur bone. Forgot to take a photo.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Short pose studies of Brianna Leigh, one of San Diego's tiniest life models, from the Life Drawing Wokshop at Sony. For this workshop, Brianna's poses ranged from two minutes to twenty and were drawn quickly with a Prismacolor stick. 18" x 24" on Canson 50lb Sketch paper.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Anitza Rodriquez of the Chula Vista Community Art Center asked me to produce an art show in support of the arts, at the South Chula Vista Library.

She explained, "The kids down here don't have anything. The art programs have been cut from the schools. These kids will grow up never knowing anything about art."

The Sketchbook Sessions: San Diego artists and I immediately agreed to create the Drawsome! Art Show to help support the arts in this underserved community.

The goal was to show the kids that real live artists, living in their neighborhood, create cool things we all enjoy, like books, movies, clothing... and iPad apps! The goal was to inspire the kids to be artists!

The CVCAC volunteers.

We planned so many activities for opening night we were lucky the Chula Vista Community Art Center high school volunteers made sure everything ran smoothly opening night. Thanks to Chelsea Reyes, Alanna Hinds and Janelle Hinds for attaching hanging wires to the artwork and helping to hang the art show!

There was something for everyone at this community oriented event: caricatures, face painting, henna tattoos, an art area for kids to draw and paint, digital painting demonstrations, rock bands, food trucks, a balloon artist, coffee and cake, all in addition to the art show! All these services were provided freely, by volunteers who support their community and the arts.

Javir Batiz opened the night with psychedelic guitar licks from back in his Santana days. Joy Watley, the library's branch manager, didn't blink an eye when he cranked his amp to 11. Aw yeah!

Jared wasn't allowed to get his caricature drawn when he was a boy. Not in the family budget. With that in mind, he sat there all night long, drawing everyone he could. Jared wanted every kid who wanted a drawing, to get one. So, they lined up!

Opening night, the library was packed with more than 600 people!

In the digital conference room, where it was a bit quieter, concept artist and teacher Dzu Nguyen offered a free Photoshop painting demonstration for the more serious attendees. A roomful of people came specifically to learn from the young master.

Cecilia Eguia Serrano stopped by to interview
Eddie Holly and I about the Drawsome! Art Show. Cecilia speaks Spanish and
Eddie and I do not. Luckily, Anitza translated everything we said!

Artist Martha Ambrose, opening night of Drawsome!

That night, Tori Roze, an up and coming local musician, was the toast of the evening.

Through a generous grant from the Chula Vista City Council, I was able to print a giant drawing of Tori Roze and donate it to the the Chula Vista Library. Tori and I both signed the canvas print that night. (Printed and assembled by Cathy Kniess at Chrome Digital)

Paul Davies and I checking out the Tori Roze print hanging in the Chula Vista Library.

The Hot Mess guitarist's supports the musical arts with some gorgeous guitar playing.

Hellz yeah, Tori Roze plays the trumpet, kid.

Gourmet food trucks!

Folks gotta eat! The
food trucks were super delicious, and charitable too! They supported the
arts by donating some proceeds to the local high school band. I ate
the last carne asada burrito, it was for a good cause, yo.

Dave Wilkin's youngest fan waits for the artist to autograph her El Zombo book - a book about the world's greatest luchador, back from the dead...

Betty Woznis the Library Director and Senator Juan Vargas' representative stopped by to see the show and to recognize the artists for supporting the arts in Chula Vista. Thanks for letting us have rock bands in your library!

Towards the end of the night, a tweenaged girl asked me if Sue Dawe, the unicorn lady, was really at the show. I pointed her to the artists lounge. A while later, I saw her running and yelling, "Sue Dawe drew me a unicorn!" The little kid waved it in the air and skipped away.

The San Diego Sketchbook Session Artists are a mix of professional
artists currently working to create video games, concept art for movies,
tee shirts, books, magazines and comics, all dedicated to supporting
the arts in San Diego. They meet once a week at a cafe in San Diego to draw in their sketchbooks.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

This was way back, waaaaay back in the day... I'm remembering our very first Apple computer. We were little kids when dad brought home an Apple IIe. It looked like a typewriter that connected to the TV through two antenna wires. Personal computing was just invented. There it was, pure magic on the dining room table.

Fast forward to tonight. Steve Jobs is suddenly gone. I'm standing in a room full of artists at Sketchbook Sessions. I had to draw a picture of him as a tribute. He's the man. The other artists drew him too. Respect, yo.

The drawing was photographed, the exposure adjusted and uploaded to Facebook - all from my tiny iPhone. With my left thumb. Magic! We've come a long way together, Steve. Woz too. I needed a whole studio worth of gear to do that, just a few years ago. Thanks, Steve.

RIP Steve Jobs. 1955 - 2011 Graham Smith

So, what was your first Apple Computer?

My first Mac was a Quadra 700. It had an external 640 meg hard drive, a 19 inch monitor and the biggest Wacom tablet you could get. A 44 meg Syquest drive transported art files from my studio in Brooklyn to the printer in Manhattan. This was a badass system back in the day. It cost $12,000! Worth every penny.

Over the years I've loved using the computers Steve Jobs developed at Apple Computer as tools to create art and run my business. I bought lots of them.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

It is fun draw alongside the artists at Sony Life Drawing Workshop. Over the last 2 sessions, we were lucky to have Gun toting Meegin and Pink haired Bree model for our short pose workshops. Poses range from 2-20 minutes, with an emphasis on fitting the figure fully on the page.

Meegin reads - detail

Meegin contemplates shoes - Graham Smith

Meegin adjusting shoe.

detail

The life drawings of Meegin, in blue, were drawn with a Prismacolor stick, which is a solid block of color one third the length of a pencil and square in cross section. This was the first time I tried it. Me likey! These drawing are on Canson Sketch 50 pound paper.

The drawing of Bree, below, were drawn with a General's 6B graphite stick. Her portrait in brown was good old terracotta colored pencil.